HOME
by windsdaughter
Summary: When you haven't seen someone for eight years you just can't expect them to recognize you, can you? And what if that someone has become hot and popular and you're shy and new? Luke Cafferty/OC and OC/Hastings Ruckle.
1. Rising Hell

I had left Dillon, Texas many years ago, but never forgotten it. I'd spent my best summer there, had my best friends, my first broken bone.

So I smiled as I watched through my dad's car's window the "Welcome to Dillon" sign we were passing by.

Even though I'd only lived there a year or so I felt like I was going back home.

And, besides, I had unfinished business.

Three hours and twenty-seven minutes later I was in my new room, trying to get a shelf fixed on my wall. Useless to say, I wasn't having much success. I couldn't really tell if I was placing it straight while holding it.

"Paul! Paul!"

"Yeah? What the hell do you want?" he screamed back.

"Dude can you get here and give me a hand?"

"Ahhhhhhhhh" I heard him grunt. "What?" he asked, coming into my room.

"Is this thing straight, I can't really tell from this near."

"Umm, yeah, I guess."

"Come on! Is it or is it not?"

"Yes! Yes, it's straight!"

"You know I'll kick your ass if it's not, right?"

"Yeah, whatever. Like a midget like yourself could ever even reach my ass."

"Ha ha, real funny." I started drilling the shelf to the wall, then stopped as Paul started leaving. "Yo!" I said, waiting him to turn to me. He stopped in his tracks, but didn't face me. "Thanks bro."

"Uh huh. Just stop YOing me, will you?"

"We'll see." I smiled to myself and got back to work. I just loved my huge younger brother so much.

We'd had our bad times and had only recently started working things out, but with my mood swings and short temper + him being the annoying, often selfish, helpless kid in an adult's body, it wasn't easy.

Pretty bumpy relationship we had, pretty fierce fights. At least we'd stopped hitting each other, thank God, 'cause Paul was getting taller and taller by the hour, and he was already 1.86m.

I decided to postpone the drilling of the other shelves, had a shower and went to bed. It was school next day.

I rolled over in bed half of the night, occasionally deciding to stare at the tree branches outside my window, barely lit by a far away street light, and had nightmares I couldn't really recall the next morning, when I woke up at 4.57 a.m. All I knew was that I was so sweaty I definitely needed another shower.

Showering usually had a relaxing effect on me, but as the hot water caressed my naked body I started freaking out. Butterflies were born and dancing all around in my stomach.

I turned off the water, wore my bathrobe and stared at myself in the slightly steamed up mirror.

Would Luke recognize me? Would I recognize him?

To be honest, though, that wasn't the only thing that worried me.

I'd never been good with first days of school or making new friends. I was shy, irritatingly so, and my self confidence was way below my feet. I felt awkward about my body, about my pronunciation and I had learnt that if I didn't speak much, then maybe, just maybe, no one would notice the awkward way I pronounced some words. It's a long story, but I can make it short for you.

I'm not from Texas, I'm not even from the U.S. or America for that matter. I was born in Finland, raised in Italy until I was 9, moved to Dillon, left Dillon, lived in Italy again, then in China for six months, now Dillon again. Messed up? Maybe, but I don't mind. New places always excite me, new cultures awake my interest, as long as I don't have to befriend anyone. But today, oh today I would have to do just that, because everybody knows it, if you don't fit in the first day, you probably never will.

Entering the school, I removed my headphones and turned off my obsolete nokia 2730.

Where did I have to go to get my schedule? I asked myself, trying hard not to think about Luke, but unable to do so and therefore eyeing everyone around me, looking for his face. My lips were dry and my legs suddenly felt incredibly heavy. I could do this. I was seventeen for heaven's sake, not a kid anymore. Still, I couldn't get myself to ask any of the students about where I had to go, so I asked a teacher and headed for Mrs. Taylor's office, last door on the left.

The room was empty, so I just sat there until a surprisingly beautiful blonde woman hurried in.

"Good morning" I said.

"Good morning. I am so sorry I had you waiting, hope it wasn't for too long." She sat down and started looking for something, probably my folder. "It's Nell Drew, right?"

"Yes"

"Well, I'm Mrs. Taylor and I'm the guidance counselor, like you probably already know. Oh, here it is, your folder and here you go, this is your schedule."

"Thank you."

"I trust you won't have any problems here with your last year. No matter how irregular your course of study has been in some times of your life, you've never had bad grades" she continued, flipping through my files. "Wow, China…" I smiled at her, glancing at me. "And, well, it's pretty late, so I'll show you to your locker and then you can hurry off to your first class. Come on."

The matter was quickly dealt with and soon Mrs. Taylor was telling me how I could go to her for anything, no matter what, and leaving.

I thought about it for a second, then called after her.

"Mrs. Taylor!" She turned around, rather surprised.

"What is it Nell?"

"I used to have a friend here in Dillon, Luke Cafferty, I was hoping you could tell me if he's attending this high school or West Dillon." This was embarrassing. She smiled a bit, looking at me in a funny knowing way that made me even more uncomfortable.

"Oh, he's here all right. He's in the football team and he's actually coming this way right now. I have to go, but it was nice meeting you. Have a good one, Nell."

"Thank you Mrs. Taylor, you too." I don't know how I managed those few words. I was frozen, panicking, but I had to see him, so I forced myself to look the way the guidance counselor had.

And there he was, walking confidently right in the middle of the hallway, joking with a bunch of friends, he punched one on the arm. He was wearing jeans and a green t-shirt with the words "Rising Hell" on it, tight enough to leave me in no doubt about his muscle mass, his hair was short, his smile wide with perfect white teeth. My heart was pounding painfully in my chest, trying to beat its way through my ribcage, I was struggling with myself not to hyperventilate. I clutched my history book and new schedule tighter to my chest, tightened my grip on them, my knuckles ready to pop right out of my skin. I felt feverish and melting now. I preferred frozen, give me frozen back.

This was not happening. He wasn't popular. He wasn't on the football team. That wasn't him. Please, God, no.

I kept staring at him for a few more seconds as he got closer and then quickly turned to face the lockers, before he could notice me. No, no, no, no, no.

A girl with incredibly curly, shoulder length hair was shoving some books into her locker right next to me.

"Excuse me" I asked, making her look up at me "Sorry, who's that guy over there, the one with the green t-shirt?"

"Ummm, that's 4s, Luke Cafferty, the school's star running back." She said looking at his back as he made a turn to the right. "How's it possible you don't know him?"

"Actually I'm new around here."

"Of course. He's cute right?" I didn't like the weird smile creeping up on her lips.

"I guess." Yes, he was. "The name's Nell by the way." I added.

"I'm Becky, nice to meet you." She smiled, genuinely now. "What's your first class? I'll take you, come on."

"English" I answered, following her.


	2. The Good Samaritans

I don't have a very good memory. In fact, my memory sucks.

There are things, however, even I can't forget, like the first time I met Luke.

Just like these days, even when I was nine I used to walk to school, I wanted to be independent and the building was only a few kilometers from my house anyway, so my parents were perfectly happy not having to drive me. The day before summer break, the last day of school, I wasn't feeling so well, but since I actually enjoyed school at the time, I decided to ignore my body. When the teachers asked me if I was okay, I said I was perfectly fine, I just hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. As the hours passed, however, I felt worse. My head started spinning, and I couldn't focus on what was being said in class, but soon it was time to go home and I gladly started wobbling to base, like my father used to call it. My knees felt like butter and I was so tired I would have gladly fallen asleep right in the middle of the walkway right then and there, but somehow I had the feeling my parents wouldn't like that. Besides, I would've been home in a second. Or would I?

I started looking around and there was definitely something wrong with the landscape. I wasn't supposed to be surrounded by fields, I was supposed to be on a street full of pretty houses. At the end of the street was supposed to be home, with my mommy in it. I looked around me a bit more and decided I definitely wanted my mommy now, she would've known what to do. She would've told me everything was all right. My big brown eyes started filling up with tears and I sat down on the edge of the dusty road. My lower lip started quivering and soon tears were leaving salty tracks on my full, burning cheeks.

I don't know how long I stayed there, but I eventually got up and started walking again, then stopped to whine a bit more, then walked some more again. The corn field gave way to an uncultivated plain of green grass with cows on it and I could see a white blur through the tears clouding my eyes, I hoped it was a house. Soon I heard barking and a beautiful black and white doggy, with long shiny hair ran towards me. I bent on my knees so I could pet it, but before I could he started licking my face so eagerly I fell backwards on my bottom. I started laughing, glad that I finally wasn't alone anymore, but then remembered how lost I was and how I missed my mommy and how bad my head hurt. I started crying again, but kept hugging the dog. I didn't notice, in between my sobs, that someone was approaching.

" Hey, that's my dog! Give it back!" a boy about my age said, somewhat irritated.

I stood up and sniffled, trying hard not to show my tears. "I'm sorry." I managed, but soon started whimpering again. "I didn't –sob- know –sob- it was yours –sob." I was approaching hysteria at that point and started shaking violently.

The boy drew closer and awkwardly put a hand on my shoulder.

"I… It's okay, don't worry. I'm not angry at you, you can play with him too if you want. Stop crying."

"I want my mommy" I sat down on the dirt road and curled up on myself. "I want my mommy."

The last thing I heard was a "Wait here" coming from what seemed a great distance and the boy's footsteps as he ran away. The doggy stayed and licked my face one more time before I was surrounded by blackness. For a while I could still hear him moaning and pacing around him, but couldn't see him, then I lost consciousness.

I woke up, as I've been told, two days later, in my own bed, my favorite toy, a plush Albert Einstein doll, right next to me. The Cafferty family had gone knocking door to door through all the nearby neighborhoods to find my house. It took me another week to get back to full health, but my parents never recovered from the fright I had caused them. They never let me walk anywhere on my own until I was fourteen and even now that I was seventeen, they let me stay home anytime I told them I was unwell. I couldn't deny I had never used that to my advantage. Anyway, as soon as I'd recovered, I was brought to the Cafferty house, to thank my saviors. I was to be forever grateful to these good Samaritans, my mother kept telling me on the way there.

I finally was able to take a better look at the white blur, which was indeed a house, a beautiful, big, two floored, freshly painted one. My mother had called Mrs. Cafferty to give her a heads up about our visit, so the father, the mother and the son were all expecting us in the living room with ice tea ready on the table when we arrived. I said what I'd come to say and then sat on the couch while the grownups talked, impatiently swinging my legs back and forth. I wanted to see the doggy and I could tell the boy was bored too. I looked at him better, since I didn't really remember anything about him from the week before besides his voice.

The boy was plump, with dirty blonde longish hair falling over his bright blue eyes. The boy was Luke.

The boy was about to become my _bestest_ friend.

"Look at them." Mrs. Cafferty told my mom. "They can't even keep still. What do you say we put them out of their misery?" My mom smiled. "Get out of here already, go play." She said.

I looked at Luke and he looked at me, we smiled.

I spent that whole summer with Luke and his border collie Mojo, every single day I was brought over to the farm and we let our imagination run wild. We sailed the seas, fought pirates, became pirates ourselves, explored space and travelled through time to see the huge dinosaurs. I didn't mind that Luke often had to help his dad with stuff, I helped him with his chores so he would get them done faster and then we could pretend to be airplanes together.

Then august came and we had to leave, but I never forgot that goofy, kind kid. In fact, I was thinking about him again, eating my lunch on the football field bleachers, alone. Even though I'd brought my own lunch, I'd still passed by the cafeteria to look for Becky, maybe I could've sit at her table and socialized with her group of friends. I hadn't been able to spot her and all the other tables were pretty much full or the people sitting at them looked menacing, so, being my chicken self, I retreated to plan B: the bleachers.

The weather was lovely, a bit too hot maybe, but I didn't have to answer the usual questions people always asked me, being there on my own, reading City of Thieves, which I was enjoying very much. Plus, I didn't have to share my delicious sushi rolls and little salmon omelet rolls. I'm a very slow cook, so they had taken me quite some time to make, and I was really hungry. At the end of the meal I put down the book and stared at the green grass of the field, hypnotized, for a while. Then, apparently out of nowhere, I noticed a guy ambling through the field, hands in his pockets, his gaze wandering. As I looked at him surprised, he noticed me and waved at me with wide movements of his left arm. I timidly waved back with my right hand, hoping he would leave it at just that. I thought I saw him smile.

Of course, he did not leave it at just that.


	3. A Roaring Alice

This chapter is dedicated with all my heart to my first 2 reviewers, **Number Seven is a boss** and **DaleSnale**, thank you guys! I hope you enjoy this :3

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The waver started jogging my way, taking his time. Once he'd reached the bleachers he started climbing them up to where I was and I, well, I just stared. His brown hair was all messy and his beard slightly unshaven. He sat down a few feet away from me and smiled.

"Hi there." He said.

"Hi." I answered.

This was so not good, I was awful with new people, you already know that, but I was even worse with guys. The situation, though, wasn't worse, oh no. It was worse than worse. The new person wasn't just a guy, but a really good looking one. Terrific.

"Hastings Ruckle, nice to meet you." I looked at his outstretched, open hand and shook it firmly, finding it surprisingly cool.

I don't exactly remember when or where, but I'd read that handshakes were fundamental in job interviews, a good solid handshake could make the difference, it showed you were determined and confident. I've been practicing mine ever since and it was quite the handshake, I must say. The problem was, however, that that was where my confidence ended.

"Nell Drew."

"What are you doing up here, all alone?"

"Having lunch, reading." I picked up the book and started nervously to fiddle with it. _Come on, interact, ask him something. _"What were you doing down there?"

"Nothing really." I glanced at him, noticing for my great relief that he wasn't looking at me, he wasn't looking at anything actually, but leaning against the next step of the bleachers, eyes closed, enjoying the sun.

"I see." Was all I could come up with and the conversation ended there. I expected him to get up and leave, but he didn't, so I waited for him to say something, he didn't and I brought my attention back to City of Thieves page 108.

Even though the story was set in Leningrad during the Nazi siege, not the most cheerful place on Earth at the time, the way Benioff narrated the events made me often smile, but by the time I was at page 113 I was full on chuckling, already oblivious of the person by my side. Then I remembered, slowly turned to check on him and caught him intently staring at me. His legs were now crossed, elbows on his knees, his chin in his right palm, head slightly cocked to the side. I blushed and looked away.

"I should probably get going." I said as I shoved my stuff into the backpack. "See you… around."

He just waved and I waved back, then quickly left. What a weird guy with such a weird name, like I was one to talk.

The rest of the week went by without any highlights.

On Tuesday I gave finding Becky's table another try, succeeded and was positively surprised with how nice the girls I found myself sitting with were. I wasn't the kind of person who talked much, while most of them were, so… it was a win win situation and I fit right in. I regularly followed classes, was greatly relieved to find out that not in every school in the U.S., like shown in movies, you got on people's bad side just by sitting in the spot they usually occupied and verified that yes, football players were indeed worshipped in a godly kind of way, like shown in movies. I even found out that in Dillon every football player had his own "rally girl" who was somewhat of a personal… I didn't know what really. They gave the guys on the team gifts on Thursdays, baked goods usually, to lift their spirits for Fridays, when they had to play. They did their homework sometimes and decorated their lockers. When I first heard Sarah and Becky mention the term and I asked them what it meant, they thought I was kidding. Once they'd told me, I thought they were kidding.

"Why would anyone do something like that?" They looked at me like I had suddenly grown horns on my forehead.

"Because it's fun and gets you to interact with really hot guys and it's a really easy way to popularity." Said Sarah in an _isn't it just obvious? _kind of tone. It wasn't obvious at all, I still wasn't getting it. I could tell they were expecting an answer from me, though.

"Wow." _Think fast, Nell, think fast._ "There was nothing even remotely similar in Italy, nor China." They seemed satisfied with my response, smiled and resumed their conversation. Good old blaming it on cultural differences/playing dumb always, ALWAYS worked.

As we were leaving the cafeteria I made the most remarkable discovery, Becky was Luke's rally girl. I didn't really know how to take it

"Has he ever asked you to do his homework?" I inquired.

"No. Luke's not that kind of guy." Becky said and I wasn't able to fight off the smile lurking on my lips.

"And even if he were, he would never ask Becky. He's totally got a thing for her." Ouch. I didn't see that coming. It felt like someone had thrown a bucketful of cold water right in my face, of course he had a thing for Becky, she was smooth and sweet and fairly popular.

"Do you like him?" I had to know.

"No way, she's after Tim Riggins, who is now in jail, just so know."

"What? Are you guys having fun at my expense because I'm new and clueless about all this drama?"

"No, it's all true, but it's not like Tim went to jail for murder or anything. He stripped down stolen cars and no, he did not steal them himself. Anyway, girl" she added, pointing her finger at Sarah "you've gotta stop answering for me. It's irritating." I wasn't sure whether to be sad for Luke or happy for myself. I went for being SORRY, instead of sad, and refreshed.

"So" said Eve, definitely my favorite wolf in Becky's pack, while looking at me "you're coming with us to tomorrow's game, right?"

"Sure, I've never been to one before. What time is it?"

"Starts at 8p.m., but I thought I'd pick you up half an hour before that, I hear you have no car."

"Thanks so much, that would be great." She was always so thoughtful.

"And wear something red."

So there I was, sitting on the cool cement of the walkway, my back against the rough wooden fence surrounding my front lawn, wearing a red T-shirt, waiting for Eve. Friday night had come. I squinted as the car's lights hit my eyes and got in the passenger seat.

"Hi Eve." I said, fastening my seatbelt. "Thank you once again for driving me, you're incredibly kind."

"Don't even mention it and I'm not half as kind as you think I am, the only reason I'm doing this is because I enjoy your company. I've noticed that the more people there are around you, the less you talk, so I figured, if it's just the two of us on the way there, you'd open up a bit."

We chatted our way through the short drive, the walk to our seats in the bleachers and the ten minutes left before the beginning of the game. I was so caught up in the conversation, I didn't notice how different the place looked at night until Eve told me the game would begin in a second. I looked around me in awe.

I was drowning in a swarming, cheering sea of red, closed up in a bubble of light, completely separated from the night surrounding us. There was a layer of adrenaline, of glee and anticipation, with a hint of madness wrapping us up all together, players and spectators, Lions and foes, into that almost magical moment of football. It was overwhelming and incredibly beautiful.

The cheerleaders started their choreography, the players took position and the referee whistled for the game to start, while the crowd's hails and hoorays increased. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, but not for long. The Lions Pride was highly contagious and as the people around me moved and their skin brushed against mine, it rubbed off them and onto me.

Everything was happening so fast. The ball was passed, players were tackled, I didn't know where to watch. _Watch out for Luke, Luke is 44. _Yes, Becky had told me on Monday, but I couldn't place him, except for a few fortunate glimpses I caught of him, so I tried to keep track of the ball instead.

By the time the last quarter had been pretty much played away, the two teams were even.

There was time for one last Lions' action.

The red quarterback weighed the situation, but no matter how his teammates were trying to protect him, opposing players were closing in on him, he threw the ball. And as he crashed to the ground under the weight of an adversary, the ball flew up, higher and higher. We held our breath. Someone was making his way, running, through enemy territory, he seemed unstoppable. It was number 44. 30 yards, 20 yards, we stood, the ball was descending, would he catch it? Everything seemed to slow down, 10 yards, the rival 33 was approaching at alarming speed. _You can do this, Luke, I know you can._

But he had not been fast enough, we could all see now how the ball would land where he had not yet ran. He jumped. No more than 3 yards, we gasped, the 33 approached, Luke grasped the ball with both of his hands. My attention, however, was caught elsewhere, not on his hands, but on his legs, where the 33 was about to get him. It happened. I closed my eyes, my insides tied up in a knot.

"TOUCHDOWN! Touchdown! Unbelievable!" The commentator's voice echoed through the stadium and the crowd erupted into cheers. I opened my eyes, but could not join the people all around me. 44 was down, but not for long, slowly he got up.

"The Iron Man did it! Luke Cafferty did it folks! And the Lions stay UNDEFIETED!"

Everyone was screaming at the top of their lungs and jumping and clapping their hands. It was like a roar rising towards the skies and I roared too.


	4. King of Bizarrely Short Conversations

Matt and Julie are back together! Yay! Now that that's out of the way, I can thank **twotoe** for her incredibly constructive reviews and my other readers for following this story. There is also, unfortunately, something else I need to tell you guys: as you may have noticed, Christmas holidays are over :( and therefore my classes have restarted, meaning I won't be able to write as much. But I won't stop and all I can promise you is one chapter every two weeks, at least. I'm sorry T.T

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I started living for Friday nights, the thrill of the action, the adrenaline rushing through my veins, the screaming, the feeling of being part of something bigger than just me or my family and friends. Something of which Luke was a part of too.

I looked up the rules of the game on Wikipedia, I bought myself a football and started practicing throwing and receiving with Paul for 20 minutes in the backyard every day. I even designed myself one of those long tank tops with the East Dillon Lions logo on a website and ordered it large enough for me to use as a dress with leggings and a belt at games. The toughest part was convincing Eve to go watch every single game with me, even the ones played several miles away from Dillon, but, as Napoleon used to say, _Victory belongs to the most persevering = _me.

We had witnessed yet another smashing Lions victory that had taken place 52 minutes of driving from Dillon and were now leaving the stadium, eating what was left of our ice creams and bickering about what was the proper way of eating a kiwi (yeah, our conversations were highly intellectual). The parking lot was incredibly crowded and we had just begun making our way to Eve's silver Ford when something caught my ear. I kept walking, but tried to listen harder.

"… Drew! Nell Drew!" Oh gosh, someone was calling my name. I decided to ignore the fact completely and pretended not to notice. "Nell!" I fastened my pace by just a little bit.

"You do know a guy's calling you, right?" asked Eve, grabbing me from the tank top and forcing me to stop.

"Yeah, I just had decided to pretend not to notice, but since we stopped it's obvious we noticed. Thanks for crushing my plan dude."

"Are you kidding? I did you a favor! Do you know who the guy trying to catch your attention is?" I hadn't turned to look at him, but Eve had, quite a few times actually.

"Nope, but I'm sure you do."

"Hasting Ruckle, as in Lions 88 Hastings Ruckle, hot, gorgeous Hastings Ruckle." I sighed.

"You think I can still make a run for it?" I asked, looking longingly at her Ford.

"Don't even think about it. Get a hold of yourself, girl, go over there and see what he wants."

"I'm sure he just wants to have a laugh at my expense and then tell his buddies about it."

"Go." She said in a tone that admitted no objections. I stayed still for a few more seconds, considering once again the option of running.

"I know you can hear me Nell!" he screamed over the sea of people separating us and I turned on my heels, starting towards him. As I got closer I ordered myself not to look at him, _look at anything else_, but I couldn't help it. He was still wearing his football gear (I had found out that he was in the team from Becky), all but the helmet, and his sweat soaked hair was glued to his face. Had I been in his shoes, I would've looked ridiculous, a mess, but he had a whole Abercrombie&Fitch model vibe to him anyway.

"You didn't strike me as a football fan, I had no idea." He said as I came to a halt a nice, safe distance from him.

"Me neither, until just recently." I said shifting uncomfortably.

"Anyway, I haven't seen you at the bleachers in a while."

"Yeah, I found my way to the cafeteria."

"That's a shame." I looked down at my hands. "Well, I'm waiting for you there tomorrow." He stated simply and then left, headed for the locker room. I watched him disappear behind its green door and then kept staring in that same direction. Had that really just happened or had I imagined it all? Was he being serious or joking around? I had no idea, but I was definitely going to nickname him _King of bizarrely short conversations,_ he'd earned it all right.

I caught up with Eve and we walked the rest of the way to the car, jumped in and drove home. Needless to say, she squeezed every last detail on both of the times I'd talked to Hastings out of me.

The next day I found myself wondering what I should wear. Of course, I wouldn't go to the bleachers, I'd go to the cafeteria, but, just in case, I wanted to look nice. After delaying the choice of clothes until the last possible minute, I ended up pulling on an old pair of loyal dark blue jeans and one of my favorite Ts, green with a funny white t-rex in a sombrero screaming 'Give me a taco!'. Simple every day stuff, I finally decided, was the best option: I was not going to look like someone who'd been thinking about what to put on for a guy who was probably not even going to show up. Not that **I** was going to…

I started looking for the books I would need at school that day, but found myself unable to remember any of the classes I would have, so I checked on my schedule. _OH_. It was Saturday, I had no classes. _That's just great! No school, no bleachers. _I went back to bed, relieved by this realization, and snuggled up to my hugging pillow.

At lunch my whole family noticed how restless I was and by 3p.m. I'd checked the wall clock in my room at least a hundred times. The thought of Hastings being at the bleachers at lunchtime and me standing him up gnawed at me, no matter how hard I tried to tug it away in some remote corner of my mind. By 4p.m. I was going crazy, I had no choice, so I hastily wrote 'Out with Eve, home by dinner' on a piece of paper for my parents and pinned it to the fridge with a magnet. I then ran out of the door before I could change my mind.

It took me loads of self convincing not to turn around, but I managed it to the school. There were a few cars in the parking lot, heating up under the blazing sun, I noticed as I walked through it to get to the football field. It was probably just the genitors or something anyway, right? Not Hastings. My mind thought so, my stomach, however, didn't and it kindly released the butterflies I oh-so-loved to let me know.

The best way to deal with this was going there, proving to myself no one was waiting for me and going back home, maybe after getting myself a milkshake. I marched across the grass to where on the bleachers I'd sat that first day of school and was proven right: empty. A wave of different emotions washed over me, relief and disappointment the strongest among them.

I was about to leave when I noticed it, something moving on the top of the bleachers. It couldn't be him, no way, but I had to climb up there and see for myself. Someone was lying there sideways, his back against the empty field. I didn't dare make any guesswork on who it could be, I just noiselessly tiptoed my way to the person and stared at him in disbelief as he turned to face me in his sleep. Unbelievable.

I sat, legs crossed, on the step under his, right in front of him, my face just a few inches away from that of Hastings Ruckle. Unbelievable, he'd come and, even more unbelievable, he'd managed to fall asleep on something as uncomfortable as the bleachers. I stared at his perfect features, slightly parted lips, straight nose, long eyelashes. Maybe he wasn't doing this for some kind of bet, I thought, smiling like an idiot, maybe he just…

That's when I found myself staring into two sleepy pools of ivy green. For the slightest moment none of us realized what the situation was and we just kept looking into each other, then he reacted. He blinked and gasped and abruptly went to a sitting position, hitting my head with his forearm in doing so. I lost my balance and was thrown back by the blow, instinctively spreading my arms in a desperate attempt not to fall backwards. I bet the situation would've been funny if I hadn't been the one opening and closing her mouth, without making a sound anyway, like a fish out of the water. After ridiculously managing to keep steady for a bit, I felt gravity pulling at me and closed my eyes, preparing myself for the pain. I would've probably hit my head, my back if I were lucky.

The pain, however, did not come, so I slowly opened my eyes and found, for the second time in very much less than five minutes, a pair of mesmerizing eyes looking at me. If my heart had been beating furiously in my chest, it now stopped, my breath trapped in the back of my throat, while I could feel that of Hastings, short and heavy, on my face. We were so close, the tips of our noses almost touching, that he could've easily kissed me. That exact same thought probably made its way into his head, because a light shadow of red colored his cheeks and the arms that had saved me from crashing quickly unwrapped themselves from around my shoulders.

Unfortunately, I never really was the lucky type, so I did indeed hit my head and it did indeed hurt. And there I was, my calves on one step, my torso on another, my head throbbing, looking at the clear blue Texas sky above me. I groaned, bringing my hand to where I'd hit the hard wood.

Hastings hurried to my side. "Are you okay?" He asked, every word heavy with worry. He was flustered and disoriented, two states so far away from the him I'd gotten a glimpse of in our previous encounters, that I found his confusion extremely amusing. "Nell, are you okay?" He articulated slowly. The more I thought about it, the more that whole situation seemed funny to me, even thought I'd been the one falling. I couldn't hold it in anymore, it was all too much. "Nell?"

I started laughing and, after looking even more puzzled at first, Hastings soon joined me.


	5. The Beginning of Something New

I did keep my word now, didn't I? I thought there for a moment that I wouldn't, but I did indeed! I've been sick for the best part of last week and I've been feeling better only since this morning (Sunday) and that is why this chapter is so disappointingly short and a bit boring. Let's just say that with this chapter I've laid a seed and now we'll just have to water it and wait for it to grow.  
As usual, I thank **twotoe **for her long enthusiastic review that made my day (I'm pretty sure it won't be as positive this time around though) and I also thank a new reviewer, Hanaan, for taking the time to express her appreciation, it means a lot.

* * *

"But, of course, my brother just couldn't stay in the car. So he got out, closing the door behind, leaving the keys inside, managing to get us stuck in that ridiculously small town in the middle of the desert. Oh, and did I mention it was Sunday?" Hastings shook his head, amused, and raised his Coke to take a sip.

"We had to break into our own car, my dad smashed a window and passersby kept staring at us." I made a slight pause for emphasis and then added "Someone even called the cops." There is nothing better than enjoying yourself as the punch line of your story sinks in, so I really had a blast as I watched Hastings almost choke on his beverage and spit it all over our table at Text Tubbs Taco Palace. Surprisingly, I was quick enough to salvage my meal from the rain of dark liquid, holding it up to my side, and smiled as he shook from laughter and coughing together.

After we'd left the school grounds, taking the hint from my t-shirt, he'd suggested we come here, since he'd skipped lunch, waiting for me at the bleachers. The place on Hall St wasn't fancy, for sure, but it was lovely nonetheless, with its red brick walls, tall round tables and high retro stools, not to mention the strings of little colored lights hanging from the walls and the kindness of the waitress. The different alcohol bottles were orderly displayed on some shelves behind the bar, that were now being cleaned by a sturdy middle aged man, probably the owner. As if suddenly remembering something very important, he lay down the cloth in his hands and hurried off somewhere out of sight.

"Are you all right?" I asked Hastings, not really worried.

"Yeah" he answered, clearing his throat one last time. "You could've warned me though."

"Nah, it wouldn't have been as much fun." I teased and then got back to my taco, taking a bite as big as I could.

"So I guess it's true then, appearances are deceiving." I looked at him questioningly, chewing on the tasty meat in my mouth. "Who would've though the lonely girl from the bleachers would've turned out to be…" He trailed off and I swallowed.

"A blabbermouth?" I didn't wait for his response, but kept going. "It's just that when I'm nervous I either experience a complete shutdown of my brain or hyperactivity from it, I guess you can tell which one it was this time. I just started to burn through a lot of topics-"

"Really fast." He interrupted me. "And that's not what I meant." He looked down at his half-empty white plate, bordered in navy blue, and then back up at me. " I don't really know what I meant. I guess… I just didn't expect that girl to be, well, you. I don't know how else to put it, but it's not necessarily a bad thing." He finished, as I looked at him in awe.

"Wow." I kept staring, managing, somehow, to hold his gaze. "That's the longest sentence I've ever heard you say."

* * *

"And after that we paid for our meals separately and he drove me home." I told Eve as I watched her take some books from her locker.

"That's it? Nothing happened after that?" She looked at me expectantly.

"I went to my room and watched a movie." I said, making her roll her eyes. "What did you expect? It's not like it was a date or something. It was supposed to be lunch at school, he'd just forgotten that we didn't have school that day." I checked the time on my silenced cell phone and added. "I should go now, but I'll see you at lunch, right?"

"Sure." She said and I started walking through the sun flooded hallway to my first class. I watched the other students gathering in small groups, catching fragments of their conversations here and there, laughing. A couple was sharing an innocent kiss by a window. Then I was in front of my classroom door and entered, finding it empty. I chose a seat in the second row, pulled my copybook and a pen out and waited for everyone else to arrive, while doodling on a sheet of paper.

At a certain point, after I'd felt like someone was staring at me for quite a while, I heard a muffled, definitely female, 'OH!' and then something along the lines of a whispered 'That's the girl I was telling you about'. A new voice, another girl's, reached my ear 'That one over there? No way!'. I dropped my pen on purpose and spotted them at the back of the room, catching one of them, a petite redhead, staring right at me. They lowered their voices and I focused my attention back on Mr. Raleigh, who was writing something on the blackboard in thick and shaky little letters. How was I supposed to decipher those now?

* * *

By lunchtime I was already so bored out of my mind, that I had to seriously concentrate to keep myself from falling asleep, even though I was standing in the cafeteria queue. Becky was telling me about some beauty pageant she was considering to participate and I was trying my best to seem interested, nodding here, asking something there. Fishing for some distraction, I let my gaze wander once again on my fellow students, what can I say? I just love studying my own species, it's really interesting, I can assure you, especially if you've had the chance to travel a lot. The body language changes so much from continent to continent and yet, in a way, it is always the same. For example, if a girl in China were to like a –

I stiffened as my eyes, so used to falling upon a turned back or a moving hand, found themselves meeting another pair of eyes, green eyes. I smiled tentatively, rising a hand to wave him my hello, watching him do the same. That was the beginning of a new friendship, I realized, as I felt my body relax at his warm smile, and only the second of many to come exchangings of wavings. From then on, every time we would see each other, he chatting with Buddy Jr. while leaning coolly on a doorframe, I passing by, headed to my next class, or me walking by the football field, while he was at practice, we would share a gesture. That at school.

In the afternoons I found myself lying to my mom more and more often, telling them I was going to study with Becky, while meeting with Hastings, to study nonetheless, but still, I'd never found it easy, deceiving my parents.


End file.
